Crowned

New Miss NH Outstanding Teen crowned in Derry

By HUNTER MCGEEUnion Leader Correspondent

Miss Greater Derry, Caroline Carter of Dover, wipes away tears as she is crowned Miss New Hampshire’s Outstanding Teen last night by Kenya Welch, the 2013 winner, at the Stockbridge Theatre in Derry. Carter attends St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover.
TRACY McGEE

DERRY — A new Miss New Hampshire Teen 2014 was crowned Sunday night at the close of the final competition at Pinkerton Academy’s Stockbridge Theatre.

Caroline Carter, of Dover, was named the overall winner. First runner up went to Kylie Anne Drew, of Gilford; and Jaycie Greenburg, of Windham, was named second runner up.

Carter, who was Miss Greater Derry’s Outstanding Teen, said she could hear her family members screaming from the stage as she won the competition. She attributed the victory to being able to relax and just be herself before the judges.

“The fact that I was myself this year; I wasn’t stressed, and I was very relaxed, so it gave me the opportunity to really show the judges who I was as opposed to just some girl in a dress.”

For the talent segment, Carter chose the song “I Will Always Love You,” because it reminded her of her grandmother, who passed away about three years ago.

“With this song I really felt a connection between it and the way my grandmother treated me before she passed away,” Carter said.

And before going out to sing the song, Carter said she glanced at a ring her grandmother gave her.

“Then I went on stage and I guess I did a good job, “Carter said.

Sunday’s final round drew a large crowd to the theatre, and the competition, that began on Saturday with the preliminaries, was an overall success, said co-chair Audra Paquette Burns, Miss NH 2005.

“We had a full house and it was a successful program,” she said.

“Unfortunately, we can only crown one but each and every one of them did an amazing job and all of them exemplify what our program is about.”

This year’s competition marked a kind of homecoming as eight of the nine prior winners attended, said Pattie Lamontagne, the other co-chair.

Preliminary competitions were held on Saturday and everything, with the exception of the snowstorm, went smoothly.

“The girls are great,” Lamontagne said.

The snow helped put a damper on attendance Saturday, she said, but a much bigger crowd attended on Sunday for the final competition.